Dermatology Trials

The Dermatology Department in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, has a long established research program over the last 15 years. At all stages the research program is supported by the NCRC Children’s Clinical Research Unit (CCRU). Our work centres on the most common inflammatory skin condition in children, namely atopic dermatitis (eczema), on rare genetic skin disorders and, more recently on therapeutic development. Our basic science and discovery research includes genetic research on atopic dermatitis – the NCRC collection comprises DNA from 4,000 children and is the largest in the world. This collection was used for the discovery of the role of filaggrin in atopic dermatitis (eczema). The department has also studied skin barrier function in great detail in eczema using a variety of non-invasive techniques including Raman spectroscopy and tape stripping. We run a number of both investigator-led and industry centred drug trials for children with eczema and for genetic skin disorders such as epidermolysis bullosa.